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Amtrak has a new website called Great American Stations. Its purpose is to encourage and facilitate restoration and improvement of passenger stations nationwide. Most of them are not owned by Amtrak, but their condition directly affects Amtrak's image and bottom line. The site discusses how station improvements can improve ridership and help revitalize communities. It also covers the historic preservation angle.
The home page has a video message from Alexander Kummant. He really seems to be motivated to do the job right, and this is an angle that previous presidents haven't even touched on.
The site is still under construction. It currently only lists stations on the Empire Builder route. The California Zephyr will be next.
notelvis Member # 3071
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What is really neat about this site is that it gives you a brief history of the station as well as a link to station hours.
For actual photographs though you can't beat the other site by "that Japaneese Guy"! I like his in that you can take a virtual train ride by clicking from station to station along a particular route.
palmland Member # 4344
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It also lists Amtrak contacts for your area. I got an immediate response on my email about station renovation in my town with appropraite government affairs contacts within Amtrak. This site was a good idea.
We're off again (via car) to visit family in the northeast. But a trackside room at the Henry Clay in Ashland is planned - our official halfway point.
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by palmland: It also lists Amtrak contacts for your area. I got an immediate response on my email about station renovation in my town with appropraite government affairs contacts within Amtrak. This site was a good idea.
We're off again (via car) to visit family in the northeast. But a trackside room at the Henry Clay in Ashland is planned - our official halfway point.
Does the Henry Clay do any special decorating for the holidays?
I have trouble using that Inn as a stopover point.....it's worthy of being the destination.
MontanaJim Member # 2323
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There are now two threads on this topic, i started another one a few days ago.
Its a cool site. I requested some materials through the site (posters, brochures). They were free, and I got them yesterday. The posters are pretty cool.
I requested one brochure of most of what they had available. But instead of one, they sent me a packet of about 12-15 on each of them. I must have misunderstood the order form or something. What am i going to do with all of these extras? Just a heads up to all of you if you order some like I did. It is costly to Amtrak to send so many of these brochures. I dont know if there is a way to just request an individual one or not.
I am assuming that these are for marketing purposes, and maybe they think i am a travel agent or something. Looked like a good deal to me, they were free, and the posters are cool.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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Jim, forgive me if I missed your earlier post on this topic.
As for the extra brochures, maybe you could give them to a local travel agent or just hand them out to anyone you meet who expresses an interest. Keep some in your car for easy access.
sojourner Member # 3134
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This website sounds cool, but it is taking forever coming in on my server!
PullmanCo Member # 1138
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Ho hum.
Sounds to me like Amtrak is trying to shed its dollars in local stations to local towns.
I find it slightly ironic that they pick for their initial routes once a day service areas.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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PullmanCo: "Sounds to me like Amtrak is trying to shed its dollars in local stations to local towns."
To me this seems reasonable, since small stations benefit their local area. Local bus service and airports are often highly subsidized and very expensive. The buildings are often well worth preserving and can be of use for other public functions. In many cases additional tourist dollars can be realized.
I could even see the logic in local communities chipping in for ticket agents and checked baggage. Some stations now even have local volunteers assisting with stations and passengers.
Of course the biggest obstacle to some community investment might be the uncertainty of Amtrak's future. This program sends a signal that Amtrak is willing to promote their stations as if they were going to be around for awhile. There is opportunity for some creative thinking with this whole situation.
dilly Member # 1427
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quote:Originally posted by PullmanCo: I find it slightly ironic that they pick for their initial routes once a day service areas.
Among those who design high-end corporate web sites for a living, it's considered unprofessional (not to mention amateurish) to launch a site that's still "under construction." And it's even more unprofessional to actually admit it on the intro page.
Amtrak (or whatever subsidiary group is managing the site) would have been better off waiting until the written material for every station was ready to go. The railroad's comment in the site's Q&A section -- that how and when additional routes will be covered "is an interdepartmental consensus; all routes in the Amtrak system will eventually be included" -- is merely an excuse by a bloated bureaucracy for not having its act together.
It's not rocket science. A halfway decent writer could easily crank out the copy for every station in the system within four to five weeks. It would then take a web designer a few days, at best, to insert the material into the already-existing page template.
I'm sure the civic-minded audience that Amtrak hopes to reach via the web site could have waited that long. And the site would have been not only launched complete rather than "under construction," but state its case far more professionally.
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Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I see sites of all types under construction and they don't bother me. No website is ever really "complete" anyway. They are always evolving. The only thing not complete on this site is the station biographies. I have no trouble with that. Researching history for 500 sites scattered nationwide is not something that can be done quickly. Having something up for other communities to see will make it easier to gain the cooperation of local historians around the country who can help with the task.
Everything else on the site is very relevant and important to get out there. It shouldn't have to wait for the other research to be completed. Most Amtrak stations are owned and maintained by others, many of whom do not maintain them well. This adversely affects Amtrak's image and bottom line. If Amtrak can pull together people to help improve run down stations it will be a win-win situation for everyone.
Although the Salinas station is not yet listed, I brought the site to the attention of our local rail policy planners. They had not heard of it yet and were quite enthusiastic about it.
yukon11 Member # 2997
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I did enjoy the Great American Station site. I also liked the "Japaneese Guy" site..a good source for viewing various Amtrak stations. I subscribed to a (non-train) magazine on western history. In the last issue, they had an article on historic train stations of the old west..especially those being or about to be restored. A couple which caught my eye: *The newly restored Union Pacific station in Cheyenne, Wyoming:
In addition to helping locomotives on the steep grade on Soldier Summit, Helper was also noted for being near the site of the "Castle Gate" robbery by Butch Cassidy in 1897...Cassidy's only robbery in his home state of Utah.
Richard
Tanner929 Member # 3720
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"The character of a town can be seen in how they treat its train depot."
We can't expect for Amtrak to foot the build to restoring stations, we are still hopping they Amtrak can rebuild Train Service.
I have seen in books on train stations that many citizens would go to the station to see the trains come in and depart. Which was a buisness problem for the train company.
Let's face it, when Amtrak "built" (more like assembled) in the 70's we remember what we got. It was city's, towns citizens and local governments restored the wonderful structures the old Railroaders left behind. I'm sure many municipalities have rued the day they have torn down their stations (see Pittsfield MA for one). While some are not being used for train buiseness they stand in other capacities that would be much to expensive to try to duplicate.
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